Watching Kelsea Ballerini succeed makes Carly Pearce happy.

In an interview at the American Heart Association Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection Concert in New York City on Jan. 30, Pearce gushes about watching “best friend” Ballerini’s success and recent rise to arena-touring status.

“Kelsea and I have been friends for over 10 years,” Pearce, 34, tells PEOPLE. “I watched her when she had 200 or 300 people in a little club, and now she’s selling out big arenas, so it was surreal.”

“Nobody deserves it more,” adds the country star of Ballerini, 31, whose tour of North American arenas kicked off She’s my best friend in this industry, so I’m really proud of her.”

Throughout their friendship, Pearce has earned a thing or two from watching Ballerini perform live.

“I feel like she has a really amazing ability to perform like the superstar she is in front of thousands of people, but she still remains so vulnerable and honest, and you feel very connected to her, even if you’re sitting all the way in the back,” she says.

Ballerini is gearing up for a potentially big night at the 2025 Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, where she’s nominated for best country duo/group performance with Noah Kahan for their duet “Cowboys Cry Too.”

“Truly every collaboration has taught me something very different and some have been more positive experiences than others as they do,” said Ballerini in an interview with SiriusXM host Lori Majewski on the Fierce: Women in Music radio show. “But Noah, he’s just such a good human and he’s such a damn good songwriter.”

She added, “Like, he played that second verse for me. And I was immediately just like, ‘Oh, this is a different song now. Like this matters more. It’s deeper, it’s more honest.’ And I’m very, very grateful to be in his orbit.”

On the topic of possibly winning the award, Ballerini got candid about feeling like she doesn’t win awards — and finally feels “cool with it.”

“There’s just so much else that goes into it. And for me, if you get nominated, that means that sometimes if you’re lucky, you get three and a half minutes to sing on a show like the CMAs or the ACMs or the CMTs, you know, and that’s an award,” she explained.

Ballerini continued, “And so once I rewired my brain to think like that, I’m so ecstatic to show up and perform most of the time, some of the time, and then watch a friend have a good moment. Really, I’m good with it.”